1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to outdoor grills and cooking structures for barbecuing, broiling and other types of cooking over solid or liquid combustible fuels located in the lower portion of a housing, and functioning to heat and cook meat or other foods supported on a foraminous grill or grate above the fuel.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
As outdoor smokers, barbecue grills and the like are presently constructed, they generally include a housing which will contain in a lower portion thereof, a grate, plate, pan or other supporting structure upon which the charcoal briquettes or other fuel is supported. Above this at some location, an expanded metal or foraminous grill, grate or rack is used to support steaks or other food to be cooked over the fuel. There is then often provided a dome or hood which can be lifted up or pivoted to an open position to permit the cook to have access to the food for purposes of inspection, or to baste the food, or the like. Usually, at this time, the food remains in the same position over the fuel, with the result that the hot combustion gases from the fuel waft upwardly and strike the face of the cook, and often render the environs of the outdoor smoker or grill uncomfortable to bystanders. Moreover, the smoke, which in some forms of cooking, or when using some types of fuel may be voluminous, billows upwardly into the face of the chef, and has as its only redeeming feature, the discouragement of close-at-hand kibitzers, without whom the cook might be more at ease.
In indoor cooking facilities and food containment devices, it is often a feature that a pull out shelf or drawer or grill is provided so that the food can be pulled out of the interior of a housing and inspected, or retrieved, or turned. A structure of this general type is illustrated and described in Taylor U.S. Pat. No. 60,281 which depicts a refrigerator in which a food-supporting drawer is provided, which drawer can be pulled out of the refrigerator so as to position a vertically extending back plate or wall across the opening into the refrigerator housing. The cold air inside the refrigerator will not escape when the drawer is pulled out all the way to the food-retrieval position.
Raymond U.S. Pat. No. 2,161,669 shows a portable broiler having a pull out ash drawer over which fuel is mounted, with the fuel-supporting grate disposed below a food-supporting grate or grill at the upper side of the broiler. This ash drawer moves on tracks constituted by angle iron strips, and carries a large, vertically extending, front wall or plate which closes an opening into the broiler at the time that the ash drawer is pushed all the way into the main housing of the broiler.
A similar ash drawer is depicted and described in Addy U.S. Pat. No. 2,933,080. In the Addy patent, a housing is mounted on the upper side of a framework or standard and includes a food-supporting grill located over the ash drawer. A dome or hood is mounted over this food-supporting grill. The food-supporting grill is not movable, from all indications, except possibly upwardly.
Cardwell U.S. Pat. No. 3,096,706 shows of a charcoal-retaining grid which is removable from the inside of a housing. The grid is slidably retained on rails. This system also has a food pan which has handles and can be pulled outwardly upon supporting rails by means of an outwardly projecting handle.
Hastings U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,609 includes a pair of trays which can be slid horizontally into and out of a charcoal cooker housing. The firebox which supports the charcoal does not appear to be removable from this housing, and it is positioned at an elevation within the charcoal cooker housing which is higher than the trays which are removable, thus indicating that such trays are in actuality ash drawers. A spit or grate is used for supporting the food so as to expose it to a source of heat located therebelow in the firebox within the charcoal cooker housing. This grate appears to be removable only by vertically lifting the tray up, after a dome or hood has been pivoted upwardly about a hinge connecting it to the base portion of the housing.
Stalker U.S. Pat. No. 3,380,444 illustrates a transportable cooking apparatus which includes a drawer used for containing or supporting charcoal briquettes. This drawer has a handle which enables it to be pulled horizontally outwardly on rails or tracks when it is desired to replenish or remove the charcoal. A grill or grate can be placed in position over the charcoal drawer for supporting food to be cooked, but this grill cannot be slidably removed from the cooker housing. A hood or dome is hingedly connected to a base portion of the housing for pivotation about a horizontal axis, and its upward movement is limited by a chain which interconnects the hood to the base portion of the housing.
Coppridge U.S. Pat. No. 957,748 depicts a baking stove of early vintage in which a plurality of drawers are provided at locations over the source of heat which is disposed near the bottom of the stove housing. Although some drawers located upwardly within the housing can be pulled out by means of handles protruding on the outer side of the housing, it appears that the heat which originates in the bottom of the housing is vented into the center of the housing, or to the sides of the housing, rather than being passed upwardly through any type of foraminous grill or support for the food. Moreover, this baking stove is intended for interior use rather than exterior or outdoor use.
Other patents of the type dealing with refrigerator constructions disclose the concept of providing slide out food-supporting drawers which include a back side flange or vertically extending wall which is dimensioned to seal the opening into the housing of the refrigerator so that the cold air inside the refrigerator does not escape when the drawers are open. In general, the prior art described above, and known to Applicant, is not thought to include, in an outdoor smoker and grill, a housing which is adapted for implacement of fuel in the lower portion of the housing, with a grill or foraminous-type, food-supporting rack assembly slidably mounted for horizontal sliding movement in that housing, so that the food-supporting rack can be pulled out of that housing without interruption of venting of hot combustion gases and smoke to the atmosphere through a regular dome or hood.